He’s famous for playing TV’s most lovable layabout, Jim Royle, but there’s nothing lazy about Ricky Tomlinson.

At the age of 73 and despite having had a quadruple heart bypass, the actor says he has more energy than ever.

And he has surprised fans with his new role – in dark BBC zombie drama In The Flesh – which is a shift from the comic creations he has been known for in recent years.

He leaps up out of his chair to greet me and he seems as fit as a flea.

Laughing like a drain, he says: “Retire? No bloody way, I’d go barmy. I’d be on Jeremy Kyle because I’d go round the bend with nothing to do.

“It would be ‘here’s Ricky from Liverpool... he’s gone off his rocker’.

Scratching his grey beard, he takes a slurp of tea and adds: “I don’t think age matters that much.

“I’m working more than ever. I’m 74 in September but if I had a holiday booked and work came up, I’d work. I love what I do and I feel lucky to be doing it.

"My family are grafters. My dad worked all his life and my eldest brother has just retired at 75. It’s the way we were brought up.

"I take about 20 tablets a day but it keeps me going so, so be it.”

Dark: In zombie drama In The Flesh (Photo: BBC)

Ricky, who has been happily married to his second wife, ex-social worker Rita, since they tied the knot in 2003, had a heart bypass in 2007.

So how is his health these days?

“I feel fabulous,” he says. “I have to take tablets for the rest of my life but it’s a small price to pay. Rita looks after everything for me.

"If she’s away she’ll leave all my meals labelled and she’ll get my tablets done for every day and my appointments to remind me.

“So I don’t worry about it. I live every day as it comes.”

He looks like he has recently lost weight so does he watch what he eats?

“I’m on a diet because over Christmas I ballooned to 19 stone. I ate everything that was going,” he says.

“Rita is the best cook in the world but I’ve got to watch it so I’m not eating bread.

"I love bread, I could live on it, but I’m leaving that and drinking just tea or sparkling water.

“I don’t know about the low-fat side of things – Rita sorts that.

"She knows more than Slimming World about diets whereas I couldn’t boil an egg.”

Loafer: As Jim in the Royle Family (Photo: UNKNOWN)

Life is sweet for Ricky right now but he knows all about adversity.

And he spends much of his time these days working for charity – even giving up Christmas Day to perform for struggling families.

“The biggest dampener for working class people is being afraid of the knock on the door, the bailiffs,” he says.

“No matter how well you do, you never forget something like that, it scars you.

"So when you can you give something back, it’s your duty. There’s nothing worse than worrying about money.

“I don’t have that now but I’ve been there. I’ve had the bailiffs at the house, I had my lovely little cottage repossessed.

“I did everything in that cottage – plastered it, did the fireplace – then someone’s come along and taken it from me so I thank God those days have gone.

"I still drive past it. I could buy 10 of them now but seeing it reminds me how lucky I am.

“Despite success I don’t consider myself an actor and that’s not being funny or blasé, I just don’t.

“I’m a plasterer by trade. So I’ve got nothing to retire for, have I? As long as these parts keep coming, I’ll carry on.”

Ricky’s latest role is as outspoken villager Ken Burton who is not happy about the zombies living in his community.

“It wouldn’t normally be my thing, I can’t usually watch zombie stuff,” the Scouser admits about the three-part drama.

“But it intrigued me and it really is good. It was set in the North and I’m very parochial so I thought ‘I’ll have a go at that’.

“I’m hoping people who like me might watch because it’s me and then find it’s something they like.”

Soap star: Ricky, right, in Brookside

While viewers have watched him take on the undead, he has been busy elsewhere, making a documentary about his life – directed by comic Johnny Vegas – and filming a drama with singer Lisa Stansfield about northern soul.

Ricky also hopes his role as Jim in The Royle Family will carry on for a few more years.

“I’m asked ‘why was that?’ and I say, ‘People have more in common with The Royle Family than bloody Downton Abbey’.”

The remark betrays his fierce political heart. And as we chat – in between the times he pauses to wave enthusiastically to fans who stop at the café window – he lets rip about what the Government is doing.

“When I hear them say they’re cutting benefits I feel like screaming,” he says.

“They need to live in the real world. Stick them on an estate on benefits.

"Could they manage? Of course they couldn’t, they haven’t got a bloody clue. They don’t know the price of a pint of milk.”

He adds: “I’m addicted to The Jeremy Kyle Show because I can’t believe what’s happening with this so-called underclass.

“There’s no hope for them so there’s no hope for their children. We need to create jobs and provide better education.

“We’ve got to tell them that they don’t always have to be at the bottom of the barrel.

"They’re paying the price for the bankers, those who’ve got nothing are paying for those who’ve got everything. It’s outrageous. It makes me so angry.

“If your next-door neighbour ran up a bloody big bill because they couldn’t manage their finances, you wouldn’t expect to pay it would you?